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Managua – President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega has ruled out Saturday the date of the elections as claimed by his opponents, whom he publicly described as a "group of putschists" at a rally of his supporters to Managua.
" Here the rules are established by the Constitution ", and " we can not change the rules overnight just because the idea has come to a group of putschists "said Ortega during this demonstration of support for several thousand of his supporters.
This was the first time since May 30 that President Ortega, confronted since April 18 with a wave of demonstrations in which more than 230 people were killed, appeared in public.
If " the putschists ," continued Mr. Ortega, " want to come to power, that they seek to obtain the votes of the people ".
" Then we will see if the people will give their vote to the putschists who have caused so much destruction in recent weeks.There will be time for the elections.Everything in its time ," said the Nicaraguan President.
– " Putschists ", vandals ", delinquents " –
And Mr. Ortega continued his attacks against his opponents and against the protesters who demand his departure, which he described as " vandals " and " gang of delinquents ". " Those who sow zizanie sow terrorist tactics to murder their Nicaraguan brothers ," he said.
million. Ortega was speaking to the crowd of his supporters from a platform on which his wife Rosario Murillo, who is vice-president, was also standing in front of a memorial to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who was a political ally of M. Ortega.
The opposition accuses Mr. Ortega and his wife of leading Nicaragua as a dictatorship marked by corruption and nepotism.
The Civic Alliance for Democracy and Justice, an opposition coalition that includes sectors of civil society, announced a protest for Thursday, July 12 and a general strike for Friday, 13.
calls for early elections or the departure of Mr Ortega, a 72-year-old former Sandinista guerrilla, who has been in power since 2007 after a first term from 1979 to 1990. Ortega's current presidential term ends in principle in January 2022.
" Down with the Plotters ", " Not a Step Back! ", " Rest, My Commander, Remain! ", " We want peace protesters pro-Ortega chanted, waving flags in the colors of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).
Power support marches have also been held in other cities in Nicaragua.
The march of Managua, part of the Plaza de las Victorias (Victory Square), arrived at the Hugo Chavez roundabout, where stands a structure representing the deceased Venezuelan ruler and surrounded by " Trees of life ", metal structures installed by order of Vice President Rosario Murillo.
" I support Commander Ortega, the only one who has watched over the poor, against the right putschist who lies (…) The hooded people who attack people are theirs ," said to AFP a protester, Guillermo Ramirez, a mason 43 years old.
Martha Candray, 57, a former soldier, also expressed her support for President Ortega. " I am a revolutionary woman and I defend my homeland against the putschist right and its vandals ," she told AFP. " We Sandinistas, we are pacifists, but if they seek us, they will find us ".
In recent days, men dressed in civilian clothes, hooded and heavily armed, patrol with riot police in several cities, destroying barricades erected by protesters.
Human rights groups attribute most of the violence that has shaken the country for almost three months.
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